


The Guardian of Gold Crown Town

by deskclutter



Series: both a wave and a particle [1]
Category: Princess Tutu
Genre: F/M, Gen, also more about ahiru than anything, more gen than fakiru really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-17
Updated: 2013-03-17
Packaged: 2017-12-05 14:30:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/724354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deskclutter/pseuds/deskclutter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some stories of Princess Tutu that circulate in her hometown.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Guardian of Gold Crown Town

Known for its picturesque architecture and strong arts community, is it any wonder that Gold Crown Town boasts Princess Tutu as its patron fairy? A great dancer, Princess Tutu is said to originally have been a water fairy whose home lake lies just outside the old town gates, which are of course no longer in use since the town's expansion, but Princess Tutu is associated with all the waterways of Gold Crown Town. She appears sometimes in the guise of a great swan, and at other times in the guise of a young girl with a lamp in her hand, but she is always recognisable to those who believe.

 

According to legend, Princess Tutu was once courted by Prince Siegfried, who in his younger days slayed the Monster Raven who lay chained beneath Gold Crown Town. She appeared to him in times when his heart was in need of succour, and Siegfried was touched by her kindness and dauntlessness.

She asked only one thing of the prince, by which he abided for some time: that he might not follow her when she left him. But in time, his curiosity overcame the prince, and he trailed after her to a mysterious lake. There, he watched as she stepped into the lake and returned to her true form, a swan.

Though Prince Siegfried said not a word and made not a sound, Princess Tutu knew at once that she had been found. With a cry of dismay, she disappeared from his sight, and was never seen by the sorry prince again.

 

Since Prince Siegfried left Gold Crown Town, it is Princess Tutu who has inherited his role as its protector. On bitter winters, those who are lost in the snow are led to warmth by a fairy voice and the glow of Princess Tutu's golden lamp. Never has a child been lost to ice or drowning, not on Princess Tutu's watch nor on her waters. When someone in Gold Crown Town is tired or weary or fearful, a prima donna may appear to them to ask for a dance, and when she leaves with a smile and a curtsey of thanks, they will find that their hearts have been soothed and their purpose renewed.

That is the gift of Princess Tutu.

 

It is said that there is one sure day -- or to be accurate, one sure _night_ \-- when anyone may find Princess Tutu, and it is the night of the Fire Festival, when lovers dance by the fire. It is also the one night that Princess Tutu does _not_ dance, but if you look very carefully, you will see a girl with red hair, who watches the festivities with bright eyes as the firelight plays over her face.

Some say the surest way to find her is to look to the side of Fakir, the writer, who was Prince Siegfried's friend and who is now famous for his epic of the Raven's daughter, Princess Rue, though he has also won quieter acclaim for his astonishingly large collection of observations about ducks.

But if any seek to follow the two when they leave the fireside -- and they always leave together -- it is said that Princess Tutu will know, as she knew when Prince Siegfried saw her, and to that person Princess Tutu will never appear again.

**Author's Note:**

> \- This was written for the 31_days prompt for January 28 / _The silhouette of a lost child, the sound of bells, the flicker of fire_. I have been sitting on it for ............ a while.  
>  \- A lot of the tonal inspiration for this comes from random stuff I picked up during my travels in Europe, particularly Luxembourg (for shamelessly cribbed elements of [Melusina's legend](http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/melusina.html#luxembourg)), particularly Bruges (for spotty details here and there and also because I pretended it was Kinkan Town whenever I was there (I know it's based on a different town in Germany!) and also I almost froze my fingers off when I was there in the winter).  
> \- Uhhhhh, obviously a lot of the stuff I wrote doesn't happen exactly like that in canon, so for what comes after you get to decide how much is real and how much isn't. (But for my part, I kind of ascribe to the view that such things are both myth and real (both a wave and a particle). Sorry, I read too much Terry Pratchett.)


End file.
